From the back: In 'The Queen and I' Adrian Mole's creator has hit on a simple, clever idea and she sustains the fun superbly. She imagines that the last election was won by the People's Republican Party, with a bit of subliminal help from the television technicians' union. The Royal Family has to be relocated. They are allotted accommodation in Hellebore Close, known to it's residents as Hell Close, on a Midlands housing estate. Her estate dwellers are authentic in the mixture of bafflement, suspicion and good humour with which they accept the poshos; "How did you talk to somebody whose head you were used to finding on a stamp?".

Paperback, 239 pages. First published in 1992 by Methuen London. This edition published in 1993 by Mandarin Paperbacks.

My son and I directed our daily walk towards Limingantie today to make our first Pilkku release. Since I haven't read anything by Townsend yet (I have a couple of Adrian Mole books on my tbr pile) I decided to take this book home with me. Having lived in the UK, I love anything to do with the British and am very much looking forward to reading this book.

This wasn't as hilarious as I thought it would be - at first I wasn't sure whether it was funny at all - but bit by bit the characters grew on me and I ended up laughing out loud several times. My absolute favourite was Harris, with Charles as a close second :D I agree with oofiri about the ending being a cop-out though.

Reserved for Chania, who'll hopefully pass it on to jumpingin as a wishlist surprise.